Though I appreciate the reference at the end, I think an important part of this is that it’s also so that when you meet a hero you can do more with this skill. You can “see” and engage with the real person. A person as real and mundane as every other person, with all the good and bad that implies.
I actually think “see” is too limited an analogy, because this really involves all your senses and reasoning, but it’s also true that I feel it has a close connection to what artists call “learning to see”, like maybe it’s using the same mental circuits.
You can learn to see so well that you can do it effortlessly. Suddenly you’re always seeing more, everywhere, from then on. Seeing and appreciating everything you look at; beautiful, ugly, boring, surprising, and all the rest.
And when you meet your hero on the road, you can love them as a fellow person, instead of worshiping them as a hero.
Though I appreciate the reference at the end, I think an important part of this is that it’s also so that when you meet a hero you can do more with this skill. You can “see” and engage with the real person. A person as real and mundane as every other person, with all the good and bad that implies.
I actually think “see” is too limited an analogy, because this really involves all your senses and reasoning, but it’s also true that I feel it has a close connection to what artists call “learning to see”, like maybe it’s using the same mental circuits.
You can learn to see so well that you can do it effortlessly. Suddenly you’re always seeing more, everywhere, from then on. Seeing and appreciating everything you look at; beautiful, ugly, boring, surprising, and all the rest.
And when you meet your hero on the road, you can love them as a fellow person, instead of worshiping them as a hero.
Agreed. I meant that you can kill the far-mode caricature of them you have in your head, if you so wish.